We putz along...

We've somewhat settled in to a routine at this point and while not as euphoric as we were in the beginning, the transition to 2 has been much easier than I expected (so far). There's been plenty of acting out by Henri, and lots of guilt about who gets attention, and of course the sleep deprivation, but all in all it's been smooth sailing. Hudson is not as easy going as Henri was, but I'm finding his triggers (basically, any time he's not eating or snuggling on mom is reason to freak out) and if they're avoided he's fine. His naps are unpredictable at this time, and his bedtime varies by about 2 hours, but he's been doing some nice stretches of 6-8 hours at night so that forgives a lot. I don't have any pictures of them, but he has periods each day of being very chatty and smiley and he looooves to look at his sister's face. Today we had a great tummy time session where he worked very hard to keep his head up for extended periods of time and he kept practicing so maybe he's outgrowing his slug phase.

As for Henrietta, she continues to be wonderful with him. She gives him kisses and hugs (we have to watch that she doesn't smother him) and finds it hysterical and fascinating that he breathes (I tried to explain that she did as well and she thinks I'm delusional). If he's crying she insists that one of us sing him a "happy song", and shows a lot of empathy if he's in distress. She also wants to help with all diaper changes and is my gopher when I'm stuck on the couch. Basically, she seems to have accepted that he's part of our life without question and I'm super grateful for that.

Everyone knows that the second barely gets photographed and we're no different. Actually, no one's really been photographed since my phone is out of memory and it's enough of a workout to get the kids out the door without remembering my camera. But here are a few (and they're deceptive; Hudson really doesn't sleep that much, it's just when I have hands free and can look at him):

We went to a friend's 1st birthday party. Henrietta's first and she loved it. Lots of fun activities for the kiddos and amazing food for the adults :)

Candy corn bowling. I'd actually just introduced H to the concept of bowling the day before and it was a big hit

My gorgeous boys. He loves his daddy!

I've decided he needs to be dressed as exclusively in orange as possible. It really brings out the red in his hair.

TV bribe time for the kiddos

So I said we were adjusting. I didn't say we were keeping an organized house. But I've managed to corral most of it in here...

He's been getting up around 0630, so after a nice early breakfast he generally snuggles back into our bed

The beloved David and Kelsea came over on Monday and brought the cutest (handmade!) headband for Henri.

I snapped this because he was chatting and smiling up a storm. Obviously I missed...but he was being pretty cute.

So nothing too exciting. I'm trying to spend any spare moment (except this one, obviously) studying as I have ONE chance left to pass an exam which will allow me to take a final exam to get my masters...can you say stressed? We go for a walk to the park every day and now that I'm 6 weeks out we're extending the walks to make it real exercise (I'm counting having to carry Hudson for them as my weight workout). Having such a good eater has made the baby weight completely melt off but I have a TON of toning to do, plus lose the extra weight I kept on from Henri, so there's been much talk of joining a gym. In the meantime, this absolutely amazing weather is making memories of the summer seem much exaggerated and keeps calling us to abandon house and homework. My mother-in-law is coming this weekend (we're keeping it as a surprise for Henri) so hopefully we'll get in some adventuring with photo evidence.